Little Temptations
by SamCyberCat
Summary: Ryo goes through his daily routine, reflecting on the things he could do to stray from this routine – and why he doesn’t do them. Ryo/Fubuki.


Notes: For the gx_100. Set post-GX with established Ryo/Fubuki.

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There were a lot of things Ryo was tempted to do on his walk home.

The first of these things being to not go on the walk at all. He was content with work. He was the sort of person that could start work early and not finish until the job was done, then look for more work after that. And he knew that if he worked over night that he could probably have his brother's duelling schedule fixed for the next year.

Though he had to admit that he was kept late as it was anyway. It was already dark by the time he'd started the walk to the apartment he was staying in.

Inside - that was another place he wanted to be right now, as the rain poured down around his soaking leather jacket. Not in that apartment either. He'd saved up enough money to be able to live in a more luxurious home quite comfortably by now, so buying a house was tempting too.

He snapped back from his thoughts long enough to notice the people walking around. Not too many out at this hour but they were some. In his younger days he was naïve enough to try to respect everyone he met, but through his time in underground duelling he'd learnt the truth about people. And these people weren't from the most respectable end of market. They weren't criminals either, but they were just… so rough. Each trying to get to their own place. It would be impossible to talk to any of them.

Once more the pang of temptation swept across him. How easy it would be to duck into one of the bus shelters and call Asuka or Edo or one of his other friends. Sure, it'd mean that he was late but at least he'd have an engaging conversation.

He couldn't do that though, he'd made a promise.

At least he was almost at destination one on the stops to fulfilling that promise. He looked up distastefully at the neon sign that was always missing two and a half letters. It was a DVD rental store - not even a good one. But it was the only one that was open by the time he'd finished work. Some clever store manager had figured out that bums who didn't finished work until 10:00pm wanted to watch movies too.

Not that he'd be here by choice. If it were up to him he'd be in the twenty-four hour library pouring over books of knowledge for the sake of it, not grabbing whatever stupid film was on the penned list in his pocket.

Though he had to admit that the store always had what he was looking for, no matter how obscure. Which was helpful because other than the scribble on the paper Ryo knew nothing about these films. They were never top ten titles, but he would have been insulted if they had been. They were always old films with dodgy animation that could be laughed at openly or films relating to some out-there culture that Ryo knew nothing about. The latter didn't bother him so much even if he'd rather something factual than fictional.

Part of him wanted to forget these stupid, low-budget movies and bring back a documentary about the evolution of technology.

He'd never do that though. He was not one to fall for temptation.

So he paid for the movie and retreated from the shop, putting the box under his jacket to protect it from the rain. The journey home was filled with more thoughts upon where he'd rather be and what he'd rather be doing. All of them so easy to achieve with a simple change of direction.

Yet he made it to the door, resisting the stronger temptation not to pull one of the residents up about the dog that barked madly all through the night.

The routine was not broken. He returned to his own apartment room in good time to start making a late supper and turn the heating on. He'd just put the DVD into the player when the door clicked open for a second him.

Fubuki was standing in the doorframe, worn out and smiling. He was always smiling. Even after a rough day of pushing his physical form to the max on the set, even after being hounded by fans and slandered by the media he was always smiling.

And right then Ryo knew why he resisted all the little temptations. Because Fubuki was depending on him to be the one who'd let him have life the way he wanted it instead of how the image of a celebrity should be. To just live in a flat like a pair of kids instead of a mansion like the kings they were, to eat budget salad instead of dining in a fancy restaurant, to watch the rubbish movies with monsters that have strings attached instead of the latest blockbuster that his celebrity friends were staring in… to be Fubuki Tenjoin. And if Ryo couldn't help him to be that for a few hours then he might lose the smile he loved so much.

As the two of them sat down to watch the cringe-worthy movie together Fubuki turned to Ryo and told him, "I've tried to get one that'll match your interests more this time. It might not be about technological revolutions but it does have robots in it. And dragons. Which is almost as good as robot dragons, right?"


End file.
